The Moment
by Feelin Glayish
Summary: Has there ever been one moment in your life that you wanted to get lost in forever? Kai is given the chance to change the future for the better. But can he, when he discovers Tyson used to have feelings for him... too? TyKa/Time Fic/WIP
1. The Present

**Disclaimer:** Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me.

**Author's Notes: **

This story has many, many fragmental descriptions or generally fragmental sentences. They're meant to be that way, so please don't take the grammar very badly. Other than that, it's a mature read, so I hope a few people can enjoy this style.

* * *

**The Moment**

_I wish that I could stay in this moment, for eternity…_

_Silence._

_The calm sound of waves rolling onto the beach._

_A white sandy beach, a place he knew well. Lying there on the soft sand, fingering a seashell that happened to be under his palm, he stared up into the sky. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sparkling sky, with every star aglow. Shining down on him so brightly, he could close his eyes and still see the brightness in the darkness behind his eyelids. Opening his eyes he saw a shooting star, falling just for them, fly across the sky._

_And then another star fell, followed by another, and another, until the sky was raining stars… _

_He closed his eyes, letting the heavens rain down the light. Each star disappeared into the night where the sky and sea both turned black._

_Something made that moment unforgettable._

_And slowly his hand moved across the sand, gently clasping the shell. His fingers brushed soft warm skin, and he carefully placed the heart-shaped shell on the still palm of the person lying next to him._

_He smiled sadly._

_The calm sound of waves rolling onto the beach and washing away his footprints._

Kai did not open his eyes but he knew he had to. Groaning softly, he rubbed his hands over his flushed face. He rolled over and buried his head into the pillow, squeezing his eyes shut. The last grains of soft sand drifting away as his sleepiness faded.

The dream was always the same, but the feelings he woke up to always changed.

Sometimes he felt true happiness, other times horrible depression. Both extremes left his heart beating in the hollowness of his chest as he remembered the dream in its entirety.

It hurt, reliving a moment in his dreams that he could never relive in reality. It was always painful, but if it was one thing Kai Hiwatari had been taught how to do, it was to live with pain.

And he had been dreaming for seven years…

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Present**

When he and four other young beybladers had taken on the world years ago, the future had seemed so bright. They all had had their differences, strengths, and weaknesses that wove them together into a world champion team – The Bladebreakers.

They were going to go far too, because they were all so young. The youngest being only twelve at the time they'd won, the oldest being fifteen. And then two more championships, against the world again… World champions together until the end. Their future had been a blue sky with no clouds, an endless road waiting to be traveled.

All their futures shone so magnificently, as long as they were together, he had believed that he'd never have to wonder if his future would turn down the wrong lane.

But of course…

The future is never what we think it will be.

Kai could have handled a steady, gradual growing apart. He could have handled less team practices, less visits, less sunny days… It wouldn't have seemed so bad because although their futures were always changing, if it didn't seem like the days would get better, they eventually would. Tyson always was the ray of light that guided the team through rough situations, and the future never seemed any less bright.

The day the future lost its shine was something Kai would never forget. It was something they all would never forget, never ever… and yet, always try to forget…

A sudden striking sense of darkness.

No, more exactly, a hollow feeling at the loss of light.

All the days after that one faithful night had been permanently darkened, as if stripped of the glimmer of hope that the future had always seemed to hold.

Like a pinprick of the light of a star in the inky black sky disappearing with dawn, Tyson's small life at only fifteen had been extinguished. But stars die long before we see them pass away in their brilliant explosions. And maybe that was what the future was; a moment where the past and present collide, so sadly, so beautifully. The moment when nothing exists except a promise.

Seven years this day, a day he could never ever forget as hard as he tried… Tyson, the world champion of beyblading, and the only person he had ever truly…

Tyson was dead.

The sudden shattering of their future made Kai realize just how fragile those golden dreams had been. It was all just in pieces, everything falling to pieces. And like those pieces, the remaining Bladebreakers fell apart just as suddenly. In the blink of an eye everything had changed, the light in their… no, _his_ life, snuffed out.

They disbanded and scattered themselves far away from Bay City, where Tyson's grave rested, its simple headstone a constant reminder of a brighter future that could never be.

It was such a dark, dark future…

And Kai wished… he wished sometimes with all his heart, and breath, and tears, that this could be the dream he woke up from. But he was forever caught up in the one moment when he hadn't cared about the future at all.

* * *

Kai's motorcycle tore across the stretch of pavement before him as he weaved through the traffic. It was another busy Tuesday afternoon, just another day in the world. His face was expressionless as someone honked their car horn loudly at him for cutting them off.

Just another day.

After seven years out of the beyblading circuit, Kai had done many things with his life he had never thought he'd do. They all had.

And maybe that was the reason why the world looked so bleak behind his helmet as he raced down the busy streets of Bay City. The tall buildings reflected in the black glass of his eye guard.

They, being the former Bladebreakers, all had many things to regret. Their lives weren't as great as everyone had thought they would have been, seven long years ago.

_An unexplainable pain at hearing the news of Max's situation.__ An unexplainable pain at knowing of Ray's misfortune. Pain he could not explain._

Bay City, however, was booming in technological business. Their place by the water allowed for easy overseas shipping, and many companies had set up in the rapidly flourishing city. One of those companies was the origin of many of Kai's regrets.

BioVolt.

They'd rebounded, using their vast Beyblade technological expertise to set up their business. They made high-tech products that were in no way connected to the scandals they'd conducted all those years ago. At first the BBA had been so wary of them…

But it was hard for the town not to fall under its financial seduction, and with the fact the whole world had never known of their bad history…

Kai did not work for BioVolt.

_The Chief.__ A short boy with brown hair covering his eyes. Glasses that were rarely ever used, sitting on his head… Laptop in arm. Tyson's arm usually around his shoulder. Tyson's best friend. _

Kai revved the engine on his motorcycle nearly running a red light as it changed from yellow.

Kenny was BioVolt's number one lab technician.

Kai'd been repeatedly offered a job there as well. Hell, just about everyone in Bay City wanted a job at that place, and he was the only other Bladebreaker in Japan… But doing so would have stripped him of every single shred of trust he'd earned from Tyson Granger, the world champion no one remembered now almost a decade later. And Kai could not blame the world for forgetting Tyson as an individual, but he could never ever stop blaming the individuals, who Tyson had touched so deeply, for not holding onto the memory of that feeling.

For him, Tyson's touch had been red hot against his heart. So acute, he could not close his eyes without remembering… Losing himself in that moment… And realizing that the reason he had kept on living was not alive himself.

Flower petals flew from the back of his bike. A bouquet of white and red roses was attached there, waiting for him to lay it on a grave. Today was the anniversary of Tyson's death.

His motorcycle's wheels screeching to a halt into the parking spot in the lot beside the cemetery.

* * *

"Tyson." Kai managed to say quietly from where he stood in front of the simple headstone.

It was what it was, simple. Tyson's grandfather, devastated by the death of his only grandson, was the one who had had it engraved. So simple, the words, but so utterly perfect at conveying the words in his heart that Kai could not help the tears that sprang to his eyes each time he read them.

_Tyson Granger_

_1990 – 2004_

_We love you._

Kai gently placed the bouquet of flowers onto the green grass before the headstone, as if any other way would be disrespectful. As he knelt there he could see the waves crashing against the beach and the shooting stars fall from the dark sky once again. A moment so beautiful it was as if the stars were falling into the ocean while the waves washed them up to shore as he and Tyson lay on the sparkling sand.

The dual-haired teen squeezed his eyes shut at the painful memory. "I love you…" He whispered softly to the grave. A tear streamed down his cheek but he did not wipe it away.

Kai wished… he sometimes wished that the stone did not say those words. He did not want to be just part of "we"… and yet, that was all he ever was to Tyson.

It was funny, in the sad ironic way. Only in Tyson's death did Kai's heart finally realize why it kept beating.

The silence of the petals blowing over the grave as his footsteps faded away.

* * *

"Tell me about your old teammates." The voice was soft, but analytical, a person with a planned conversation.

The couch felt hard beneath him. Kai sighed. "You know about them already."

"I know who they are," Dr. Dayeh replied, shifting her clipboard in her hands. She sat in a practical chair across from Kai. "How are they? Do you keep in touch?"

He closed his eyes.

_A splash of water, the rip of claws, the click of keys in his ear.__ The sound of blades spinning in his ear. The sound of Tys-_

"New topic." Kai said grimly, his wine-coloured eyes focused on his crossed arms.

Dr. Dayeh, a professionally trained psychologist and therapist, lowered her glasses down the bridge of her nose. "As your 'shrink,' I think it's a good place to start."

"A good place to start…" He repeated impassively. His eyes closed once more and stayed that way. "A good place to end." He murmured, imagining the stray rose petals in his jacket pocket.

"Mr. Hiwatari," The therapist prompted.

A fatalistic style of speech. She recognized this behaviour from her patient, Kai Hiwatari. He had started coming in every other week for sessions, about a month and a half ago. It was obvious that Kai had many deep-seated issues needed to be dealt with; he was anti-social and very private. Moreover, he had a past that he did not like to discuss, a dark past? Possibly… Something lost?

He was such a sad looking man underneath the scowl.

Coming to the conclusion that she would try her very best to help him loose whatever sadness he'd been holding onto, she dug through as much of his past as he would let her see. Kai did not say many things, though she wasn't an expert for nothing.

She'd done her standard 'shrink' tests and questions on him. She knew the things she needed to know to prescribe him a drug and send him on his way.

However…

_What do you see in this ink blot?  
__The stars…_

_And this one?__  
A beach…_

_This?  
__Blue eyes, deep blue eyes._

The ink blots were all black, and all had rather distinctive shapes that did not look anything like stars or a stretch of beach. She needed to learn about the scene Kai saw in his head, rather than in the ink that day. She wanted to know that moment and let Kai lay it away.

"You know about Kenny." Kai's voice awoke Dr. Dayeh from her thought's process. Yes, she did know of Mr. Dion. He was BioVolt's leading technician in their amazing technological advances. It was interesting, to say the least, that that same man was once the brains behind the Bladebreakers.

The Bladebreakers. Kai's old World Champion Beyblading team, three years in a row she believed, or was it two? She'd looked up her patient's history and had come across news articles. So many news articles… He was the grandson of the tycoon of the biggest tech enterprise in Japan, maybe even the world…

But he was still a sad man.

"Max moved to America seven years ago, as did Ray to China. No, I don't keep in touch. I don't know anything else to make this topic worthwhile." The dual-haired man told her in his ever present calm voice.

She'd never heard of the Bladebreakers or Kai, himself, during that time. It really showed that the world was that big as well as that small. You may try your whole life trying to hide from the world to eventually find that the world does not know you exist. She had been in school at that time, with no interest in the sport of beyblading herself, but now, years later, she could not think of anything else.

However…

**_World Champion Lost_**

_Article by: Henry Orfan_

_The world lost its Beyblading Champion, Tyson Granger, yesterday afternoon in a large gas explosion at the newly constructed Beyblade Battle Association (BBA) Headquarters. Officials say it was an accident due to the faulty metal used on the pipes in the main…_

_Tyson Granger, age 15, was the heart and soul of Beyblade itself. He was a true example of sportsmanship and a role model to children everywhere. His family and team spoke their sorrow and loss at the news…_

_When asked about his teammate, Kai Hiwatari, did not say anything at all. We assume he is as heartbroken as the rest of his team, as Tyson was a selfless friend and cared for all he met…_

That article had been dated for seven years ago, tomorrow. She'd marked it off on her calendar repeatedly with triple underlines and many circles, until the paper became too stained with red. It was not lost on her that Kai had scheduled an appointment for this very day, a Tuesday, when he usually showed up on Fridays. It was not lost on her that Tyson Granger had been an influential person in Kai's life, had deep blue eyes, and that he had lived near a beach right here in Bay City. Dr. Dayeh knew the implications of all her special side research she'd done to help Kai.

However…

"And Tyson?"

Her question was so loaded it felt like she was holding a gun in her hands. The therapist clutched her clipboard more steadily, pen poised over a blank piece of paper.

The grayish blue locks of Kai's hair fell across his eyes. "He's in the past."

She paused, relaxing. "And what of your present, Mr. Hiwatari?"

Something in those magenta eyes flashed red, like a fire that only burned because it could do nothing else. "If you hadn't noticed, doctor, I come to these sessions because my present life is a goddamn hell."

He worked in a small office on Wellam Street, behind a computer typing in information. All sorts of information, it was a government job, nine to five every weekday. He lived in an apartment slightly larger than his office, with a pet cat named Disk, and a photograph of seven years ago in a frame next to his bed. It was a ten minute drive from his home to work on the motorcycle, which he'd purchased three years earlier because walking through the streets with roses in hand just got to be too much one day.

_Sleep, then dream. Wake up with emotion on his face, and then lock it away. Pick up the picture frame and feel severe panging loss. A familiar feeling he'd lived with and did not know how to live without. _

Eyes completely shadowed, Kai's posture was rigid in the patient's chair. He was silent. Kai was not stupid, he knew the reason why he came to the sessions – his boss had thought it'd be a good idea – he knew the reason he couldn't go a single day without wishing for shooting stars to wish on. He needed that, so much.

_Put down the frame and take a shower. Lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, turn the water off. Brush his teeth and comb his hair, put the clothes on he'd lay out the night before. Take his jacket from the coat hanger and place his keys in the pocket. Lay a dish out for Disk, and shut the door._

"Why is your life a hell?" The doctor asked bluntly, but it was not unkind.

He knew she knew.

_Go to work, type into the computer. Type into the computer. Type into the computer. Turn off the lights, and shut the door. Drive home with the helmet obscuring his vision in all directions but forward. Set out a dish for Disk. Pull the covers up, sleep, and then dream._

"You know." He whispered. The brunette doctor could see herself reflected in those magenta eyes.

For a moment, just for a moment, she could clearly see a man in love with a golden past. A perfect image of how life should always be, that was what Kai had been holding to his heart so closely for all these years.

He understood his own feelings well, but she needed to conclude this. Dr. Dayeh had promised to herself that she'd stop this man from not seeing the future he had as well, rather than the dead one he had with Tyson Granger. So much time, wasted.

"Mr. Hiwatari…" She started, knowing this was going to be their last session. "You have to let him go."

Kai shook his head slowly, not knowing why he let the emotion be seen. The ex-blader rose from his seat and walked briskly for the door.

"Kai," Rita Dayeh's blue eyes had unshed tears in them.

He stopped at the doorway, but did not turn.

"You can't change the past." She said more gently.

The soft sound of the door clicking shut and some papers on her desk rustling in the wind.

* * *

_It wasn't until this day that I remembered what I had forgotten. In my constant mourning of a future without Tyson, I remembered with a clear sense of emptiness that I, myself, still had a future to live. There was a door to my destiny I had never touched the handle of, because my hands are still wrapped around the image of him, clutching to that moment and not wanting to ever let go._

Kai slid his helmet on with practiced gloved hands. He gripped the handles of the motorcycle tightly as he revved the engine and pulled out of his parking spot.

_But then there is also something I remember this day. It is that I think of this every year the date of Tyson's death appears on the backs of my eyelids. I think of what I am missing by not letting his memory go._

The dual-haired man's thoughts slowed as he weaved through the traffic back to his small apartment.

_But then I remember… _

His heart clenched in pain as he drove off deeper into the city passing a tall building with the letters "BV" at its apex.

_I miss him more than all of that, so much more._

* * *

He flicked the lights to his apartment on and set his bags on the kitchen table. He knew that Disk would be sleeping because he got home from the therapist's usually very late. Kai walked into his simple bedroom, kicking off his shoes.

The man smiled as he saw his pet sleeping on the bed, then his smile turned sad as his gaze found their way to the framed photograph.

He pulled the covers up, fell asleep, and then dreamed.

Into the early hours of the night, Kai was jolted awake by the ringing of his telephone. He blearily picked up the receiver.

"What?" He asked in a hoarse sleep-ridden voice. The stars had been falling again, and his arms had been wrapped around Tyson…

"Kai Hiwatari?" A voice asked.

He knew that voice. It was a voice he hadn't heard in years, so many years, but he knew it. Suddenly wide awake, Kai sat up in his bed and held the receiver with a grim grip.

"Yes." He replied slowly.

"As a representative of BioVolt Corporation, I am extending you an invitation for a job position in the technological advancement and experimentation program."

His eyebrows immediately formed a nasty scowl, "I don't want to work for BioVolt!" Kai said heatedly.

There was a pause at the other end of the line.

"If you want to change everything, please meet me tomorrow at midnight in the alleyway behind the south building."

Kai did not reply.

"We can change everything, Kai." The voice said once more, and the dial tone was the only thing Kai heard for a long time.

* * *

**To be continued…**


	2. The Lie

**Disclaimer:** Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me.

**Author's Notes:  
**I'm very happy so many people were okay with this style of writing I tried! Hmm this chapter, it may seem as though we haven't gotten anywhere in the end, but it's just beginning.

**The Moment**

_I wish that I could stay in this moment, for eternity…_

**Chapter 2: The Duty**

The alarm clock buzzed, and Kai awoke with a start from his restless night of sleep. The voice from the phone had haunted his dream.

"We can change everything," were the words that came from Tyson's lips after Kai had kissed them. "We can change it all."

What did that mean?

Going through the motions of getting ready for work, he grabbed his helmet and made his way out the door. Disk, Kai's pet cat, meowed at the closed door before returning to the bedroom and jumping up onto the bed. Disk curled up on one of the pillows, her piercing green eyes staring at the photo next to her owner's clock.

* * *

It was always the same when he arrived at work. He'd park the motorcycle and walk into the building, which had a slightly tangy smell from the disinfectants and detergents the custodians would use to wash the floors before the day started.

Other early employees would say good morning or nod as he passed them in the halls. It seemed like everyone who worked there had a coffee mug permanently attached to their hands. This was never where he pictured himself, seven years ago, and he didn't think his co-workers pictured him there either, threading on their mundane lives as if he were normal himself.

As Kai would walk through the third floor reception, business department, his office was the second on the right, there would be the secretaries already answering phones.

There was this one secretary, her name was Hanah, with very short light blue hair and a sunny smile on her face. She would always try to talk to him.

At first, Kai hadn't cared. He never cared. All he seemed to do was live as a default; go to work, eat, sleep, dream… But for the past two years he'd worked this job, Hanah had been trying to make him care.

About her.

He knew what she wanted. She wanted a future with him, a relationship, a marriage, a house. She wanted to live there with him until they grew old, and she wanted a child from him, with him, and to name the baby "Amy" if it was a girl, and "Freddie" for a boy.

But he did not want that, not with her.

He wouldn't have even known her name if it hadn't been on a little gold nametag that she pinned to her blouse everyday. It made him sick to think about a 'normal' life. Settling down and starting a family when Tyson was settled in the ground and his family had mourned until there was no more of his family left to mourn.

_"You can't change the past."_

He loved the past, not her. He loved it more than any of the people in this world may have loved him. He could not change his love for it, nor bring himself to forget it. He'd given up trying to forget.

_"Why is your life a hell?" _

Because Tyson died.

A piece of Kai exploded in a white hot blinding bang, like a star. All the light faded away leaving him dark inside. Tyson died, that was the reason why.

As he passed the reception desk on his floor, he barely registered as a girl with short light blue hair waved good morning to him, or as her face fell slightly when he walked right by.

Kai took his jacket off and hung it on the coat hook on his wall. He sat in his chair and turned on his computer.

How was he supposed to know what to do?

How could he ever keep on going like this, when all he could think about were the dreams that his mind replayed all day?

Those memories were hazy and nothing more than cloudy images in his nightmares, which were always more frightening because of their softness. A soft fear. More frightening because they were images of things he did not know.

What could he say when someone talked to him and the only words he knew where what his heart wanted to say and on the tip of his tongue?

The voice on the phone had been right that night. Things needed to change, but he didn't know _how._

There were moments when the memory of the dead world champion was muted. Sometimes Kai got through the days normally, following routine. And although he did not know the details of the other Bladebreakers' lives, he knew that they were not as pathetic as he. _They_ had tried to forget, and they had not failed.

The dream was always the same. And because of that crystal clear view of sparkling stars flying through deep blue eyes etched in his mind, he could not move on as it seemed everyone else was capable of doing…

Kai pulled the first report off the large pile on his desk and sighed.

The sound of his calloused hands against the keys of a computer… was so wrong.

* * *

A large crowd of people in the streets of Bay City were circled around the Seaside dome. Previously used as a Beystadium for when the sport had been worldwide, now it was filled to the brim with representatives from all over the world for a news conference.

BioVolt was unveiling its latest project.

Many flashes from cameras went off, and the crowd hushed as the head of BioVolt Corporation, Boris Balkov, walked onto the large stage followed by several other higher ups for the company.

The once head of the abbey where Kai had lived now stood at the podium, his wrinkled face set into a gruesome smirk as flashes of light bounced off his shallow pale skin.

"Mr. Balkov, Mr. Balkov!" The reporters all waved their arms with their microphones at him, wanting to be the first to get the quotes to plaster all over their reports and magazines.

The old Russian man held up his hand to hush the crowds. He cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, BioVolt has come to you today to present our most prodigious endeavor as of the short ten years we have been a corporation. To help me in explaining the ambitions BioVolt has for Bay City, and, the World, I'd like to call forth my head of Technological Advancement and Design – Kenny Dion."

He was the same and yet he wasn't. The brunette stepped up to his place next to the podium and the large screen on the wall of the stadium flared to life with light and images. Long bangs that sometimes covered his eyes completely, his glasses were on properly for once, so that he would have the sight to explain BioVolt's vision.

His vision. His memory.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I'd like to introduce to you Defragmentational and Instantaneous Zoom Intelligence. Or as I like to call her, Dizzi, for short. Through the main process, utilizing the theory of defragmention of particles, and "zooming" in on the instantaneous velocity at said defragmention, we've developed an intellectual machine that is capable of pinpointing and magnifying in order to reproduce excellent conclusive results."

There was a murmur throughout the crowd and several images of a large machine with what seemed to be hundreds of computers connected to it formed on the gigantic screen. The footage involved a 360 degree rotation of Dizzi and also shots of the lab with Kenny and his team working during the developmental stages.

Balkov chuckled as he subtly pushed his employee away from the podium, stepping close and taking the microphone in hand. "What my technician has just informed you of is the biggest breakthrough in history. You've read about it in books, watched movies about it, dreamed about it… but now that dream is a reality."

"In English, please, Mr. Balkov sir?" A reporter yelled out, holding his microphone high.

"Ah yes," The Russian's smile widened, showing off his slightly yellowing teeth. "My friends, BioVolt is pleased to present, Dizzi, the world's first fully operational time machine."

* * *

"Mom, you shouldn't be up."

A woman in her early fifties frowned. It marred her soft features of clear blue eyes and what once had been short sleek blond hair. This voice, it kept interrupting her work, her research. She couldn't get anything done with its incessant whining about her condition.

"Leave me be." She forced out, her bony fingers that had been typing vicariously against the keyboard switched to sorting through files that were on her desk. The files had sat there for the past two years, they'd been sorted and resorted, always reaching chaos and order in the space of a day and night. She didn't have many of those left.

"Mom…" The voice, her son. He tried to touch her shoulder but she tensed and he immediately backed away. He had always been such a nice boy. Such a nice boy, but she couldn't afford the time to return the favour. She didn't have the time. Never had the time.

"Max, _please._ Leave me to my work!" She gritted her teeth, blue eyes narrowing as she sent her son Max an icy glare over her shoulder.

No time at all.

"The doctor's said you have to rest, I can't just stand here and watch you work yourself so hard everyday, and for what?" The woman ignored him and turned back to her files, hands raking through the hundreds of documents each held. Knowledge at a touch, she just needed time.

"There is no cure, Mom." Max whispered.

Judy Tate smiled somewhat at the familiar statement, knowing in her heart that it was true, but her brain refused to cooperate. It had always been that way. She snatched a folder from the pile and began riffling through it, sticking her nose into all the statistics and numbers that flowed off the pages and into her lab, down to the ground at her feet. Lengths and lengths of information just waiting for her to discover, to decode, to somehow find that fading ray of light in the jumbles of black text.

"Not _yet_, my Max, not _yet_. But when I've found it," She paused then looked at his heartbroken face. "When I've found it, I'll finally have the time to do everything we've missed out on."

Max stared at his mother sadly as she resumed her research, watching her frail body but strong mind fight each other in a losing battle. He remembered the moment when his mother had started believing in the impossible. It had been the day she'd seen Tyson defeat Tala in the first World Champions. It had always been about that. Winning. Losing. They'd lost many things over the years.

He was losing her too now. Cancer, from exposures of the many volatile materials she'd worked with at the PPB labs. But she'd always been so deep in her ambition, never any time for anything else. Now, even on death's bed she still found a way to bury herself.

"It will really be something special." Judy spoke softly.

The lights of the computer ran down her face.

* * *

There had been only three of them, not four.

He kept reminding himself of this, trying to forget but not truly forgetting. It was more of a mask, a kind of cover he'd use to disguise all of his problems. An escape route he used out of desperation, not cowardice, because there had been three, not four.

The day it came into stark reality was the day that hole in his heart was supposed to be filled by another.

He'd married, young, two years after Tyson died. The remaining Bladebreakers hadn't attended it. It didn't surprise him, they hadn't spoke since the day of the world champion's funeral.

When he had placed the ring on her finger, in front of the old temple they used to play near when they were younger, when he looked into her eyes like he'd used to in those old days, when he kissed her lips for the future…

All the sunny childish days swept away.

Tyson was gone, he wasn't coming back, no more smiles, not anymore. The past was the past, and with that one kiss to Mariah, Ray locked away his beyblade. He put it in the shrine, took off his bandana and laid the toy on top of it. The White Tiger was finally back, back for good.

And then he sat on the same chair that the elder of the village when he had been so very young, all those years ago, when Driger had been placed in the palm of his hand. He sat there, and he clutched at his new wife's hand for the moment, because now he was in charge, he was the elder. No more days left for him to grow, this was it. Nothing left on his agenda except for happiness.

Because there had been three not four.

* * *

It was nearing the hour when night became day but he didn't notice it.

The past. It had been so very long since he'd stopped remembering the past. The pain, the feeling of emptiness that seemed to fill him, how ironic, he knew it was.

But it had been Tyson.

He knew one other time in his life, in which he had despaired so greatly he had been able to forget. The abbey, Russia, the life he did not choose and the life that he had to live anyway. It was the only time he had tried to forget so much, so much, that it had worked.

So well.

He had forgotten that time of his life, to the point of where he hadn't even known it existed.

He was afraid.

Had always been afraid since the night he'd walked into the dark bedroom of his former teammate and stared at it all without seeing a single thing. The night he'd flown back from Russia, his mind flying through thoughts faster than the plane he had been on. The night he walked into Tyson's room, sat on his empty bed, and cried so many tears he had barely wondered if he'd die too – of dehydration, or of a broken heart that could only communicate through his crying, he did not know.

He lied.

He had never tried to forget at all.

He told them all, through his words, his eyes… They said, 'I've forgotten Tyson' to the rest of the world. But he couldn't believe his lie any longer.

He had been afraid that in trying to forget Tyson, he surely would have lost him… forever. And Tyson couldn't be brought back.

Kai walked back into his bedroom, away from the living room where he'd packed up all his half watched tapes of old beyblade tournaments. They'd been watched countless times, he didn't know how long he'd have continued to watch them if… he couldn't change…

He locked his beyblades into the glass display case, covering it with a sheet so he didn't have to look at it anymore. His hands traced the dusty photographs hanging on his walls as he took them down, one by one. Disk fluffed her tail and followed his slow steps, noticing the coldness in the air, the silence that was different than all the ones before.

Kai sat down on his empty bed and Disk jumped up next to him, curling against her owner's side. He didn't seem to notice her as he took the last photograph framed on his bedside table and held it in his lap. Disk's furry paw touched the simple frame, and Kai's mouth twitched as if he wasn't sure whether to smile or frown.

"Do you remember the day we met?" He asked Disk, still staring at the photo. "I remember… it was a rainy day that time."

Disk meowed and tilted her head, ear twitching. Her bright green eyes seemed to see his sadness.

"We were both there that day, visiting Tyson's headstone." Kai's voice was soft and getting softer still. "Both so drenched in it all. I heard your cry and…" A tear dropped against the glass of the frame. "I wanted it to be my own."

Disk meowed again, pawing again at the photo.

Kai's lips trembled as he felt the hotness of his tears kiss them, dropping off and splattering against the photo without a sound.

"This will be the last time." He said clearly, so differently than before. Disk backed away and jumped off the bed, startled at the change.

Kai's mouth was set in a thin line as he placed the photo into the beside table's drawer, face down.

* * *

"Kai." The voice from the phone, the past, was now the present. Kai looked at the other man with impassiveness as he walked further into the alleyway.

"Hello, Kenny." The dual-haired man watched as his old friend walked closer out of the shadows. "It really has been a while."

Kenny nodded. "So you came, so you want to change everything too."

Anger swelled inside of Kai at that statement. Change everything? Change it into what! He clenched his teeth but it didn't help.

"Maybe I just came to this hellhole to finally find out why you forgot. Why you're such a traitor and working for BioVolt!" He raged, fire lighting in his eyes.

"I see…" Kenny seemed put off at that but he adjusted his glasses anyway with a rather harsh frown. "I didn't think you were one to talk about betrayal to BioVolt, Kai."

"Things change." Kai bit out, feeling pain at the remembrance but relishing in it at the same time because it brought back the feel of Tyson's hand in his. It brought back Tyson.

"Have you watched the news recently?" The old Bladebreaker asked, ignoring Kai's anger and walking to stare at the gigantic complex behind the wire fence they were standing by. "It really will change everything. Dizzi, I mean."

Kai nodded, trying to keep his anger in check. He'd watched the news, he wasn't stupid. Kenny had called him to talk about Dizzi, his time machine.

It was completely crazy. A time machine? Was BioVolt insane, and for that matter, was his old teammate Kenny insane for thinking he'd build one for it?

"I know what you must be thinking, Kai" Kenny replied to the silence and brought his hand up to grip at the chain links in the wire fence. "But it's true, it's all true, I'm not head of the technological advancement sector for nothing… I…" He paused as Kai joined him in staring at the building beyond the fence.

"You know why I called you here, why I asked you to help change everything, don't you?" Kenny tried again, his voice pleading.

Kai sighed. "I don't know, Kenny, I don't know. What's there to change?" He asked bitterly, still feeling the tear tracks on his cheeks as the cold night air bit at his skin.

Kenny smiled, the lights from the security tower of BioVolt's lab complex flashing across his face from time to time. "The first trial run will be in one week. We were hard pressed on who should be the test runner, but you know, Balkov just had so many people trained. Perfectly fit, ready for wear and tear, since an early age. I think you know the regiment quite well."

There was a coldness in the pit of the dual-haired man's stomach. He knew it well, it was too powerful to forget now, and he didn't want to forget. Not anymore, not when good memories were entwined with the bad, not when all that light had finally washed over his darkness, when Tyson had smiled and the stars started raining down.

"We are so selfish, aren't we? Working so hard to become better just to win… to have power… working even harder still to bend time itself to our wills. The power is so unimaginable, though so similar to the same greed we fought against in those championships all those years ago." Kenny smiled slightly, his eyes covered by the darkness of his bangs as he turned to Kai once more.

"I have no right to ask this of you Kai. You must be wondering, why I would even bother trying to do such a crazy thing."

Kai nodded briefly. "The past is the past." He whispered.

The other man sighed in response. He nodded as well and crossed his arms. "I do love the past."

_The sound of waves crashing on the beach and the silent vision of a million stars raining down on them.__ The only pitter-patter of the splashes of light in the sky seemed to be the beating of his heart. Beating faster and faster and still…_

"We love him." Kai finally murmured.

"Yes," Kenny's voice was a little bit sad as his eyes locked with Kai's. "We do."

Suddenly Kai's fist slammed into the fencing. His knuckles trembled with the crunch of skin against iron wires. He grit his teeth making Kenny take a wary step back.

"We love him, don't we?" The man asked with his eyes clenched shut. "We love him so much that seven years later we're still mourning him. Still wishing he were alive so we could tell him how much we loved him – how I never stopped!"

Kai breathed harshly through the silence that stretched on for what seemed like hours, but was only a fleeting moment. He swallowed, knowing he had said too much of his own feelings and his shoulders tensed.

The ex-beyblader pressed his forehead to the wires. "My therapist – I go to one, you know – I think, she may be getting sick of seeing me." Kai smiled thinly at his ironic words, silent for a moment. "Maybe… I should stop going."

The Chief adjusted his glasses with a grim smile. "Meet me here again, tomorrow at midnight. After that we'll have exactly one week to complete what needs to be completed." He turned to leave, and Kai pushed himself away from the fence, crossing his arms tightly.

"Hey Kai?" Kenny asked quietly before walking out of the alleyway.

"Yes?"

"…We'll change everything."

To be continued…


	3. The Past

﻿ 

**Disclaimer:** Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me.

**Author's Notes: **

I suck, but at least the story doesn't really suck.. at least, I hope not. Thank you very very VERY much to all the people who reviewed. This chapter is a bit longer, and finally – TYSON!

**

* * *

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**The Moment**

_I wish that I could stay in this moment, for eternity…_

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* * *

**

**Chapter 3: The Past**

It'd been so long since he'd felt something other than this. This desperation, this hopelessness, like sweat on his skin - stuck to a web they'd spun in this dead-end city that they kept building up. A fly, helping the spider to construct its own death trap.

Disk meowed forlornly, but Kai did not hear. Everything was background noise, the static nonsense that the mind blocks out.

The answering machine on the kitchen counter beeped, "Please leave a message at the beep." Its little red light flashing as a message was recorded. The apartment filled with electronic presence.

_"Mr. Hiwatari, we are calling to clarify your whereabouts as to the fact that you did not show up for work today–"_

Kai walked silently across the tile floors of his kitchen. Slowly opening the cupboard, taking out a glass – blowing out some of the dust – setting it on the counter.

"_This is a reminder that all employees must phone in to the following number, before the workday, to clarify that they will not be able to fulfill their work duties. 555–"_

He poured some orange juice into the glass, half way, before stopping and recapping the juice container to replace it in the refrigerator.

Slowly the ex-blader took a sip, and picked up the phone. "Yes?"

_"Mr. Hiwatari…?"_

"Yes."

_"Ah, good. We seem to have reached you. Please inform us–"_

"No."

_"Excuse me, Mr. Hiwatari?"_

"You have not reached me." Kai said, voice monotone. "Please leave a message at the dial tone." He set the phone back on its receiver and closed his eyes.

_Tyson Granger  
__1990 – 2004  
__We love you._

There was one message that still needed to be heard.

* * *

"Do you know what you're asking me to do?" 

Kenny smiled as he buzzed around the virtually empty laboratory, hitting knobs and dials as he systematically ran through the motions of prepping Dizzi. He absentmindedly set his clipboard down as he took a seat at the main computer.

"You've had a day to think about it, I'd assume you know exactly what it is we need to do." The brunette pushed his glasses up and looked over his shoulder to where Kai was leaning against the wall.

Kai glanced away from the chief at that, and clenched his crossed arms tighter. "To change everything…" He murmured to himself before straightening and glaring at his old teammate. "More precisely, to save Tyson."

Tyson.

Saying the name out loud made it even more real. It made it harder to lie. Harder to breathe, to forget… To lov–

Kenny wheeled around, the chair making a slight squeak, as he also fixed Kai with a hard look. "Kai, if you don't want to go through with this, I understand. But I also know that you, out of all of us…" He trailed off, as if remembering the past, "I know that you're the one who understands why."

They were both silent as the computer booted up, vital data levels and ratios flashing against their pale skin.

"The first trial run of Dizzi isn't scheduled until one week from today. However, that doesn't give us much time or safety. The runner is supposed to be coming into the lab earlier in the week for some diagnostic tests. After that, I can't ensure any privacy at all, considering," Kenny paused and pointed to a mechanism that looked almost like a space pod, "you'll be the one in there instead of him."

"Why do we need so much time?" Kai came closer, looking up at the large computer screen as hordes of data scrolled up and down, reflecting against his face. "If it's a matter of my going to the past then I don't see how it should matter how much time passes in the present."

"Ah, that's the failsafe, I'm afraid." The technician began typing in information about Kai's statistics to calibrate Dizzi. "It's one of the problems we faced in the brainstorming phase. A lack of recordable time passage in the present would allow the runner to effectively be 'lost in the strand of time', so to speak. It's viable that we could Dizzi someone and not even be aware of it because no time had elapsed and thus not be aware of ever even sending someone back."

Kai nodded slowly, digesting the information.

"To combat the problem, we've constructed Dizzi to target the defragmentation velocity and match it. In essence, a day in the past means a day in the present."

Heart thudding loudly in his chest, Kai swallowed and spared the pod-like contraption a glance. "And if I end up somewhere else entirely?"

Kenny shook his head with a smile. "Not a chance. We've developed a handheld device that will allow communication through Dizzi. You could contact me given any difficulty, as I could you." He produced the device from a steel briefcase set next to the large key panel.

"I've run all the simulations and tests for this. It's the one configuration I've worked with for the entire term. The placement is near Tyson's old dojo, the date, one day before his death… You were doing solitary training in Russia, were scheduled to stay there for the whole summer until fate stepped in and you returned. It's perfect for the plan, you're the only one who was not in contact with anyone else… Kai, I dare say I've been planning this for years."

They shared a strained look, neither one knowing how to continue the already fragile discussion now that Kenny's technical jargon had finally ended and Kai knew all he had to know.

Dizzi's screen became unnaturally calm, the only words visible now were "Calibration: Complete."

"Kai…" Kenny said cautiously. He stood and handed the communicator to the other man. Together they walked over to the pod, watching in silence as the lid opened with a slight hiss.

Mechanically, Kai lowered himself into the seat, attaching the wires to his chest as Kenny had shown him to. The technician was typing furiously into the pod's special computer, making sure it picked up all of Kai's vitals and was running as it should.

"When you said you loved him–" Kai said abruptly breaking the silence.

His questioning voice startled Kenny, making him blink then smile. "I was referring to the message we left to him, on the headstone."

"I…"

For some reason Kai's words were caught in a web of emotions in his throat. His heart had never seemed to beat this fast before. He wondered if it was fear or anticipation, and did not bother to wonder why it wasn't for the time traveling but something entirely different.

"I… wasn't."

And Kenny's smile reached his eyes for the first time that evening. "I know."

* * *

Kai closed his eyes as the lid lowered down on top of him. He did not hear as the computer counted down the final seconds, he did not hear as Kenny whispered goodbye. 

Colours.

At first he was lost in none; the lonely black of behind his eyelids met him. There was an unfamiliar tug behind his navel, no… not unfamiliar. It was similar to the feeling of attraction, a pull to something greater that was beyond his reach. Blearily, he felt the need to reach out to the darkness of his mind before deep violets and purples began to swim in Kai's sight.

It sent his memories back to seven years ago, a place he wanted so desperately to be, and yet, a place he had so many reasons to not want to live in. He remembered the dark flowing colours that enveloped him when he'd fought against BEGA's best blader, he remembered the coldness he'd felt as the wisps of darkness swirled around his body.

And then just as suddenly, blindingly sparkling blue light. He could make out faint traces of red behind his field of view before his attention was inevitably pulled back to the sheer brightness of the blue. He was not caught in the darkness anymore, rather, it felt as if he was flying at the speeds of a shooting star. No, riding on one, falling down from the dark, dark midnight sky on the back of a burning star.

Falling from the shadows into the glimmer of something beautiful.

Its glow washed over every inch of Kai's body until everything exploded in a brilliant spray of pure white light.

The soft breathing his body made as everything faded away.

* * *

Silence. 

The calm sound of waves rolling onto the beach. A white sandy beach, a place he knew well. Too well.

Kai shot into a sitting position and his eyes widened in shock. "It… can't be…" Words failed him.

All around him was the soft white sand. The same sand that was just perfect for testing Beyblades for endurance. The same sand that would eventually get into all unwanted places if played in too long. The same sand that was ordinary and even a little too gritty as it got closer to the waterline. Before him was the bay where he and the other Bladebreakers had frequently visited in their youth.

Disbelievingly, hands gripped into the soft granules, getting underneath his fingernails.

It had worked, it had actually worked. He was here and he was going to change everything – it was…

"Hey!"

Kai's head whipped around at the voice. Along the shore was a figure that he couldn't quite make out. It seemed to be late afternoon; the fog from the bay was starting to blow in. It made it difficult for the time traveler to see.

Hastily, Kai stood up, brushing the sticky sand from his pants. He paused for a moment, barely registering that he was younger, how he could tell, he was fairly certain… there was something inside this younger body, filling years of hollowness. Something he'd been too frightened to feel in his whole life.

Hope.

"Well whaddya know? Dawg! There I am, doin' the daily kendo 1-2 and blamo! Oh man, the little homies will be glad to see you."

Tyson's grandfather stood in front of him, his trusty kendo stick at his side slightly digging into the damp sand.

The crinkled smile behind that too-large mustache made Kai blink back the fog that somehow gotten into his eyes and made them blurry.

"Kai? C'mon dude, don't leave me hangin'! Whacha doin' out here all alone?"

He never thought he'd be so happy to see the old geezer before now.

"I…" Words still failed him. Maybe he should've talked more in his life. Maybe it really wasn't too late to still say the words he needed to say. Tyson…

"Ahhh, I get it." Gramps grinned and brandished his kendo stick. "You're just out here playin' the ol' lone dawg routine. T-man didn't mention you were back."

Kai swallowed. "He… doesn't know." Heart beating so fast, the time traveler felt himself become lighter than he'd ever felt before. So light, he couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his lips. "I'm surprising him, Gramps. Can you tell me where he is?"

"Oh Oh!" Gramps grinned mischievously. "I see! Well, good thing I caught ya! The low down's that Tyson's not even shackin' up at the bachelor pad today. Got himself a little party goin' on at the Chief's. Y'know, fixin' Beyblades n'all."

"I see." Kai nodded, marveling that he had understood everything the eccentric old man had said. In his youth, he and the others had never really paid attention to the old man's slang filled banter. "I'll head straight there, thank you."

He turned to leave, feet plodding through the sand in a quick stride.

"Kai! Welcome home, little dude!"

The ex-blader looked over his shoulder to see Gramps waving his sword in the air. He watched for a moment as the old man began his kendo training, flowing through the different motions like wind. A small breeze caught his bangs and ruffled them softly, feathering to cover his eyes only to lift up and reveal them once more in a mere moment.

Kai did not hesitate as he ran.

* * *

Tyson laughed. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Ohhhh man, Hilary, don't tell me you actually did that!"

"Hey! It's not funny, Tyson!" Hilary frowned menacingly at the baseball-capped teen sitting next to her. "She had a weird accent! How was I supposed to know that the woman said "sponge baths" and not "_lounge_ _mats_–"

Hilary's explanation was cut off once again as Tyson burst into fresh laughter.

"Aha!" Kenny's cry of excitement overshadowed Tyson's usually louder-than-life laughter. The world champ and his bickering companion, Hilary, cast the short teen curious glances.

"What's that chief?" Hilary asked, eagerly wanting to divert the conversation from her embarrassing encounter at the seniors club where she had unknowingly volunteered to help with their sponge baths instead of supplying some lounge mats.

Kenny smiled proudly and shifted his laptop's computer screen so that his friends could see it clearly. There on the monitor was a revolving image of what looked like an upgraded MS blade.

"Hey, that's Dranzer!" Tyson grinned. "You finally finished it?"

The bespectacled prodigy nodded and immediately began printing out his data and plans. "It took weeks of work, but I've managed it alright. Now all that's left to do is to go down to Mr. Tate's hobby shop to get the parts I need ordered in." He took the print out of the cradle on the printer and handed it to Tyson, who was currently relaxing on his tiny bed that had computer-print sheets.

Hilary spun on the desk chair she was sitting on. "So why did you need to upgrade Dranzer, Kenny? Couldn't we have just rebuilt Kai's blade the way it was before it got smashed? That would have been loads faster."

"Well yes, but we wouldn't have gotten this far in the game if we kept going back to our original designs. This way I've improved on all the parts that gave Dranzer trouble in its last battle so it won't have to go through that again. The worst thing for a blader is to keep a beyblade with weaknesses that everyone knows."

Hilary giggled. "Or in Dragoon's case, he needs to get a new blader!" The chief laughed at that.

"Hey!" Tyson eyed them with a disgruntled look. "Anyway, you spent all this time on Kai's blade, but what about the rest of us?" He said, referring to him, Max, Ray, and Daichi.

"Patience, patience! Geeze Tyson, first you're over here almost everyday asking when Dranzer's gonna be done and now that it is you're on my back about four more! Ahhh!" Kenny pulled at his hair in frustration. "Make up your mind!"

The inky blue-haired teen blushed indignantly. "I just wanted to make sure Dranzer was ready for when Kai comes back…" He turned away and studied the print out carefully.

Kenny and Hilary shared a knowing smile behind Tyson's back.

"Well, since there's no telling when Kai might show up from his training excursion, might as well go get those parts now!" Hilary cheered.

Enthusiastically, the world champ jumped off Kenny's small bed, shoved the papers into his back pocket and grabbed his jacket. "Alright then! Let's go!"

"Argh! Wait a minute you guys," Kenny flailed in his haste to grab his own things to follow his two friends out the door. "Wait for me!"

* * *

It was strange to walk down these streets. It was the same and yet it wasn't, as if he were intruding on someone else's life, a person who saw everything he did not. This place, his past – _their_ past – it seemed so innocent compared to the many buildings that scraped at the sky in the future. Like monsters blocking them all in. A testament that the sky could not be reached. 

Reaching the apex of a rather steep sidewalk, Kai had a clear view of the now misty bay where he had come from. Suddenly, a loud beep came from his pants pocket. The teen jolted and his hand darted in to fish out a small device resembling a cellular phone.

_The communicator!_

Taking a quick glance around, Kai escaped into a dusky shallow alleyway and leaned against the wall. He flipped the device open which caused the beeps to stop.

"Kai! Come in, Kai!" The Chief's face slowly appeared onto a small screen after some severe static. The audio had interference, but just seeing the other man brought Kai crashing down into stark reality.

He immediately regained his grave disposition. "Kenny, I'm here."

"Kai!" Kenny cried. "Oh, thank goodness. Has it worked? Are you-"

"Yes," the weight of the situation made the dual-haired teen's heart beat faster. "I'm here. Everything went as according to plan. It worked."

"Oh…" The screen went scratchy a bit and a moment later Kai realized Kenny had sat down abruptly. "It… time travel… I… really did it, didn't I?"

The time traveler couldn't help but crack a small smirk. "You're just realizing this?"

"Well… it never truly seemed real until this point, you know?"

He did know. It was the same feeling he felt when he realized he was moments away from seeing Tyson again. Tyson… It seemed that name was attached to many of his emotions, forever bound to his heart. The name somehow managed to make something inside of him twinge almost uncomfortably, as if this would all disappear if he thought about it too much. He squashed those ideas down.

The communicator's little speakers buzzed again, bringing Kai out of his reverie. "Now the hard part is out of the way, and all that's left if for you to intercept Tyson before he goes to the BBA Headquarters tomorrow."

Kai nodded stonily. "Any suggestions on the best approach to that problem?"

Strangely, it looked as if Kenny was smirking but it could have been the bad video signal. "After you've diverted the event that is to occur, you'll have to come straight back to this time, so I suppose…" He trailed off and the sly expression was replaced by a more somber one.

"Kai, I highly stress that you do not do anything drastic to change the timeline. The 'You' you are now is not who you were at the point of time you are at. If for any reason you do something that is completely contradictory to what your present self would do, dyer consequences could occur. Still, that doesn't mean… you couldn't spend some time alone…"

A slight blush appeared on Kai's cheek in embarrassment and in regret. Even here, where everything was fresh slate again, he could not correct all the mistakes made in the past. And even with the time machine, he could not help thinking that there was no amount of time that could pass to apologize and make up for his past wrong doings.

Sometimes he felt like his whole life needed apologizing for.

Still, there was a serious question that had been bothering him for a while now.

"Kenny…" Kai's voice twisted over the name, his forehead creasing. "When I do it, when I save Tyson – if it changed the future so that you never invented Dizzi…"

"It's alright." The tiny monitor fizzled. "You'll still be able to return. You'll just never be able to go back."

Kai's brow creased even further. "No, that's not- What I meant-"

The image of Kenny on the communicator did not move for a long moment and Kai was beginning to think that he had lost the connection when the brunette spoke up again. The audio strangely distorting the man's voice, at least that was what the dual-haired teen wanted to believe.

"You're mistaken Kai." Kenny smiled, like the boy he had once been all those years ago. "I would gladly live an entire lifetime without inventing another machine to know that Tyson is living his life along with us. Dizzi… it doesn't mean anything to me, if I can accomplish that."

Those words were so moving that they lifted Kai's troubled heart and made him smile resignedly. "Copy that, Chief."

The image of the man in the future nodded, "Over." The connection died and the time-traveler carefully replaced the unit back into his pocket.

* * *

"So, do you think that maybe… when he comes back…" Tyson started off slowly as he and the others walked down the street. 

Kenny smiled as Tyson began narrating how he would give the new Dranzer model to their stoic friend. However, he soon forced it off his face, knowing that if his baseball capped friend saw it, he'd be on the bad end of an interrogation. Lately, Tyson had been noticing more and more the all-knowing smile Kenny had come to possess.

But, it had always been that way. At least, that's the way everything seems after a couple years. Things just change, but the changes can be so gradual that by the time someone realizes it, a lot could have happened.

Kai happened. To Tyson.

Of course, it really did seem as if it'd always been that way, but Kenny knew it wasn't the case. It felt wrong to think of the way things used to be, when they just kept getting better and better. They'd started out as rivals, and maybe they always would be, but it was pretty obvious now. Kai meant so much more to Tyson.

It was the way he said Kai's name.

The chief didn't know any better way to gauge how it had started – the shift from being _just_ rivals, _just_ friends, to something much more – but it was the most clear when Tyson said that name. He treated it like it was something soft, as if it were the safest it would ever be, in Tyson's mouth.

"I'm sure he'll really like it." Hilary said replying to Tyson's chatter.

It really was something unique that had happened, and right under his nose. Kenny mused, watching Tyson's animated face from underneath his fringe. But it truly did seem wrong, to think of them now, in any other way…

"Yeah, it's even cooler than _Dragoon_ now—Hey!" Tyson jerked to a halt, his eyes wide. "Hey, isn't that…?" He pointed down the street to the next crosswalk where a tall figure was shuffling slowly across the street.

Galvanized into action, Tyson was off, streaking down the sidewalk and waving his hands over his head. "Hey, K-Kai! KAI!"

* * *

"_Kai!_" 

The time-traveler froze, a shout coming from up the street reaching his ears. All the clutter in his brain trickled away when he heard the voice again, louder now.

"Hey, stop!"

As if being flushed with beautiful icy water, Kai shivered, and turned.

_Oh…_

The stars were raining now. He vaguely noticed as Kenny and Hilary ran up to stand next to the person who called his name, oh Tyson.

_I've died._

Kai closed his eyes and smiled. It was one of those beautiful but sad smiles. Those oh-so-sad, heart-wrenching smiles that replaced the fragility of tears. The ones that were almost an eternity in the making, like diamonds, like stars.

The fog had been slowly dissipating all morning and it had taken a while for him to realize it, but the sun was out. It was all suddenly so bright.

Tyson couldn't believe it, standing there just a street length away was their long-missed friend Kai. He grinned, feeling something odd twist inside his chest, as if telling him that he shouldn't just be standing here, grinning.

A distinct feeling that this was special somehow. A distinct feeling that he was in the dark until now.

Then Kai was walking, not bothering to even look both ways, and he was in front of them now just staring not speaking, no words.

And it seemed that in that single moment, all the pain and hollowness that he'd endured for those years came into sharp focus then dissolved away. The hurt that had consumed him for so very long vanished, everything vanished.

_This moment is real and everything else was just a dream._

At that thought, Kai bit back the sudden urge to… to cry, to scream, to smile – anything. The reason he had been drifting from day to day as a ghost, was because he had been haunted by a ghost.

"Tyson." The name left Kai's lips as a whisper, barely audible.

The younger teen gave a slow smile in reply, one side of his mouth creeping over a canine slightly in the cute way it always had. Kai studied it, wondering if it could stay that way forever.

"You walked the right way this time," The world champ jibed. "Who are you and what have you done with the _real_ Kai?" Behind them, Kenny chuckled.

There was only one thing that Kai could say.

"He changed."

Kai took the few remaining steps and wrapped his arms around Tyson, holding him closely, so closely, to his chest. Before long, the shocked glances from Kenny and Hilary had melted away to pride, and Tyson's rigid body melted into comfort. His arms completing the dream that Kai stood in, daring himself to wake up.

All the past, present, and future… All of it was lost in time, like tears in the rain.

* * *

**To be continued...**


End file.
